The invention relates to a product carry-out apparatus for a vending machine, which, at the time of selling, carries a product, which has been delivered downward from a product housing within a vending machine body, in a diagonally upward and forward direction to carry out the product to a product take-out port provided at a relatively high position.
The applicant of the invention has already proposed this type of product carry-out apparatus, for example, in Japanese Patent Application No. 66749/1999. This product carry-out apparatus has a belt conveyor which is provided below a product housing within a vending machine body and, at the time of selling, carries a product, which has been delivered downward from the product housing, to a product take-out port. This belt conveyor is installed in a forward and upward inclined state within the vending machine body. At the time of selling, upon the rotation of the belt in a predetermined direction, the product dropped on the belt is carried in a diagonally upward and forward direction in such a state that the slide-down of the product in the rear direction is prevented by a projection mounted on the belt, followed by carry-out of the product to the product take-out port.
On the other hand, the product housing has a plurality of product passages which are arranged in a longitudinal direction and each are vertically extended. Products of an identical type are housed within each of the product passages in such a state that they have been toppled sideways and vertically stacked on top of one another. Further, each product passage is extended to a position around the belt conveyor from the viewpoints of housing a larger number of products in the product housing and minimizing the impact which the product receives at the time of dropping of the product on the belt. That is, correspondingly to the inclination of the belt conveyor, the downward extending level of the product passage located in the inner part is larger than that of the product passage located in front of the product passage located in the inner part. Further, a product delivery apparatus for delivering only the lowermost located product at the time of selling is provided at the lower end of each of the product passages, and the size of a delivery port in the product delivery apparatus in each product passage can be manually changed according to the size of products.
In the above-described product carry-out apparatus, for example, when the size of the delivery port is changed due to a change in products, for selling, to those having a different size, or when maintenance of the product housing and the belt conveyor is performed, a worker should insert his or her hand into a narrow space defined by the belt conveyor and the product housing. Therefore, the work is troublesome. In particular, for example, the work for changing the size of the delivery port in the product passage located in the inner part and the work for performing maintenance of the product housing in its inner part are very difficult to perform. Further, even though the product housing is constructed so that the product housing can be pulled out toward the worker, the following problem remains unsolved. Specifically, the belt conveyor is fixed within the vending machine body and, in addition, the product passage located in the inner part of the product housing is extended to a position below the upper end of the belt conveyor. Therefore, in pulling out the product housing, the product housing in its portion located in the inner part is blocked by the belt conveyor, and this makes it impossible to pull the product housing, in its portion located in the inner part, before the belt conveyor. For this reason, the maintenance of the product housing in its portion located in the inner part and the belt conveyor in its portion located in the inner part cannot be properly and satisfactorily performed so far as the belt conveyor is not removed.
Further, the conventional product carry-out apparatus has an additional problem that, in changing the item of products for selling, an attempt to deliver at once a plurality of products housed in the product housing before the change of the item in order to take out the products into the outside of the vending machine requires the operation of the belt conveyor, and, thus, requires a lot of time for changing the products for selling. Thus, this product carry-out apparatus has room for improvement in the above point.
The invention has been made with a view to solving the above problems of the prior art, and it is an object of the invention to provide a product carry-out apparatus for a vending machine, wherein the space defined by the product housing and the carrying mechanism can be easily increased according to need while maintaining the number of products housed in the product housing, and, thus, changing the setting of the delivery port of the product housing and the maintenance of the product housing and the carrying mechanism can be easily performed.
According to the first feature of the invention, a product carry-out apparatus for a vending machine, adapted for carrying a product, delivered downward from a product housing within a vending machine body at the time of selling, in a diagonally upward and forward direction and then carrying out the product to a product take-out port, comprises:
a carrying mechanism which is rotatable about the rear end between a forward and upward inclined position for selling and a substantially horizontal position for maintenance and, at the time of selling, at the position for selling, receives, on its upper surface, the product delivered from the product housing and carries the product in a diagonally upward and forward direction; and
holding means for holding the carrying mechanism at the position for selling or at the position for maintenance.
According to this construction, at the time of selling, the product delivered downward from the product housing is dropped and received on the upper surface of the carrying mechanism, is then carried in a diagonally upward and forward direction, and is carried out to the product take-out port. The carrying mechanism, when rotated about the rear end, can be selectively located at the forward and upward inclined position for selling or at the substantially horizontal position for maintenance, and the carrying mechanism is held at one of these two positions by the holding means. Therefore, for example, in changing the setting (size) of a delivery port in the product housing provided with delivery ports which permit the delivery and a change in setting according to the products, or in performing the maintenance of the product housing or the carrying mechanism, prior to this work, the release of the holding of the carrying mechanism at the position for selling by the holding means followed by the rotation of the carrying mechanism to the position for maintenance enables the space defined by the product housing and the carrying mechanism to be easily increased. By virtue of this, changing the setting of the delivery port in the product housing, or maintenance of the product housing and the carrying mechanism can be easily performed while maintaining the number of products housed in the product housing.
In this case, preferably, the holding means has a support which can support from below the front end of the carrying mechanism to hold the carrying mechanism at the position for selling or at the position for maintenance, the height of the support in holding the carrying mechanism at the position for selling being different from the height of the support in holding the carrying mechanism at the position for maintenance, and the support is rotatable between a standing position for holding in a standing posture the carrying mechanism at the position for selling and a toppling position for holding the carrying mechanism at the position for maintenance in a rearward toppled posture.
According to this construction, the carrying mechanism is held at the position for selling by bringing the support to the standing position, and is held at the position for maintenance by bringing the support to the toppling position. In these cases, the support supports from below the front end of the carrying mechanism to hold the carrying mechanism so that the height of the support in holding the carrying mechanism at the position for selling is different from the height of the support in holding the carrying mechanism at the position for maintenance. Therefore, the carrying mechanism can be easily and surely held at the position for selling or at the position for maintenance by rotating the support to the standing position or to the toppling position. Further, when the carrying mechanism located at the position for selling is rotated to the position for maintenance, the carrying mechanism can be easily rotated by slightly toppling backward the support located at the standing position and pushing down the support by the weight of the carrying mechanism.
Further, in this case, preferably, the holding means further comprises energization means for energizing the support toward the standing position.
According to this construction, the support is energized toward the standing position by the energization means. Therefore, when the carrying mechanism located at the position for maintenance is rotated to the position for selling, upon the lift of the front end of the carrying mechanism followed by the rotation of the carrying mechanism to a position slightly above the position for selling, the pushing-down by the carrying mechanism is released, and the support located at the toppling position is automatically rotated to the standing position. Thereafter, upon the removal of the hand from the carrying mechanism, the carrying mechanism is supported from below by the support, and is held at the position for selling. Thus, the carrying mechanism located at the position for maintenance can be easily rotated to the position for selling by merely lifting once the front end of the carrying mechanism, located at the position for maintenance, to a predetermined height (to a height slightly above the position for selling).
In these cases, preferably, the carrying mechanism is detachably mounted within the vending machine body.
According to this construction, the carrying mechanism can be removed from within the vending machine body. The removal of the carrying mechanism from the vending machine body renders the maintenance work easier. Further, the removal of the carrying mechanism from the vending machine body can ensure a wider space below the product housing within the vending machine body. This makes it easier to change the setting of the delivery port and to perform maintenance of the product housing.